Novelists come up with original ideas the same way everyone else does-by thinking creatively, putting ideas together in new ways, drawing on past experiences, and looking at the world differently.

Suzanne Collins's Novel IdeaAs a child, Suzanne Collins loved myths--in particular, she loved the myth of Theseus. In this myth, as a punishment for past wrongdoing, the citizens of Athens are forced to send their children as tributes to Crete. There they will fight the Minotaur - a monster they had no hope of defeating. Collins was fascinated by the idea of a society so powerful and cruel that it could force another society to give up its children, sacrificing them as retribution for past crimes. Her fascination with the myth helped shape her idea for the novel The Hunger Games.The idea came about one evening as Collins was "channel surfing." She switched between two programs: one was about a group of teenagers competing for prizes, and the other program was about teenagers fighting in a war. As Collins flipped from one channel to the other, she asked a question man great writers ask: what if?